Teacher Makes 3rd Grader ‘Pay to Potty’

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

A Vancouver, Washington mom is furious at her daughter’s third-grade teacher at Mill Plains Elementary school for making kids pay to use the bathroom.

Jasmine Al-Ayadhi says she has no problem with her 9-yr-old daughter Reem, learning money management at school.

What she does have a problem with is how the school is going about teaching this lesson.

“When it comes to a bathroom issue, when a child has to pay money to use the bathroom – that’s wrong,” she tells KATU. “It’s inhumane. That’s a health issue.”

Reem said the students in her class earn Monopoly money by doing things, like good deeds, being nice and finishing school work. They can then use their play money to buy things, like popcorn. But they better be sure they have enough money left to pay to potty.

Recently, Reem was down to her last $50. She wanted to use it to buy popcorn like her friends. But she also had to go to the bathroom. She says her teacher wouldn’t let her go because she didn’t want to pay. Reem ended up having an accident.

The school gave Reem a change of clothes, a pair of royal blue boys basketball shorts. Reem said the other kids made fun of her for having an accident, and then for having to wear boys clothes.

The school district is investigating the incident and the teacher is not allowed to work during it.

I’m with the mom on this one. I would be furious if this happened to my child. I think the idea of the lesson was great and valuable. However, the teacher took it to the extreme. The money may be pretend but the consequences are real. And that would be traumatizing for a kid to have an accident. Maybe they should give the kids credit cards, so they can pee now and pay later. Just say’n.